Ashley Jones breaks down how he develops strength, power, size, and durability in rugby locks—and how the same methods can help tight ends and linebackers. From French contrast training and sled work to upper-body size, CARE work, and in-season programming, this is a practical blueprint for building big men who can move, hit, and keep going.

Is strength coaching a trade, a profession, or something in between? Ashley Jones explores the divide between hands-on coaching experience and formal education, and explains why the best strength coaches need both craft and professional standards.

Ashley Jones breaks down the Neural Contrast Complex, a training method that combines heavy strength work, progressive plyometrics, explosive lifting, and reactive movement. Discover how this three-week system develops strength, power, and speed without sacrificing movement quality.

Rugby demands strength, speed, conditioning, and the ability to do it all again next week. Ashley Jones shows how to adapt the Westside Barbell conjugate system across the off-season, pre-season, and competitive season, with practical programming built around performance on the pitch.

Most lifters pick supplements by the number on the front of the tub. That number is usually accurate. It’s just rarely the number that matters. From magnesium and fish oil to protein and proprietary blends, here are eight label tricks worth knowing—and the math that tells you what you’re actually taking.

Stop treating in-season rugby training like maintenance mode. Ashley Jones shows how the Conjugate System lets coaches rotate Max Effort, Dynamic Effort, hypertrophy, and conditioning emphasis so athletes keep building strength, speed, size, and work capacity without sacrificing match-day performance.

Training is supposed to be one of the best parts of your day. But we've all dealt with the complainers, excuse-makers, and energy vampires who suck the life out of a good session. Coach Stout explains why protecting your time in the weight room matters, why your attitude affects everyone around you, and why you don't need to feel motivated to get stronger.

Ashley Jones breaks down how to turn a Bronco Shuttle Run result into practical, individualized conditioning sessions for team-sport athletes. Learn how to calculate MAS, prescribe Broken Bronco target times, account for turn penalties, and build smarter weekly conditioning plans for rugby and other field sports

Ashley Jones breaks down why good periodization goes beyond spreadsheets and textbook models. Use the science to build the framework, then adjust for the athlete, the season, game-day demands, and the realities of coaching a squad.

Better performance starts with the same fundamentals that build a stronger, healthier body. Scott Hayes breaks down how nutrition, blood flow, hormones, hydration, sleep, stress, and recovery can influence sexual health, energy, and performance both in and out of the bedroom.

Most training advice you see online is one player on the field, described as if it were the whole game.

Strength in the weight room is only part of the equation. Former NFL offensive lineman Rees Odhiambo explains how offset loading, carries, sandbags, and reactive resistance can build strength that holds up under unpredictable force.

The same lifter who dismissed beat-up guys in his twenties is now selling his own injuries as credentials in his fifties, and both takes are wrong.

University of Toledo Director of Football Strength & Conditioning Evan Barr joins Dave Tate to discuss Olympic lifting for football, movement development, programming, deloading, competition, and what it takes to build stronger athletes and a better strength staff.

Training a young rugby player is about more than getting them stronger for next season. Ashley Jones lays out a long-term approach to youth development, from maturation and movement skills to strength training, recovery, testing, and building the habits that can support a player for years to come.

The rugby off-season is the time to build the strength, power, size, conditioning, and durability needed to perform at the start of the season. Ashley Jones explains how the Conjugate Method can be adapted for rugby players using mechanical, neural, metabolic, and CARE-based training to build athletes who are stronger in contact, faster under fatigue, and more resilient week after week.

Strength is something you can measure. A meet total. A one-rep max. A rep PR at a bodyweight you didn't have last year. It sits on paper. It shows up on a record board. You can prove it.

Conditioning games give rugby coaches a smarter way to build fitness without separating training from the demands of the game. These competitive formats develop aerobic and anaerobic capacity, acceleration, support play, defensive organization, tactical awareness, and decision-making under fatigue.

The honest truth about training that most coaches won't admit: it all comes down to the best educated guess for the specific person, on the specific day.

Technology, training tools, and programming methods will continue to evolve, but the fundamentals of athletic development remain the same. Drawing on more than three decades of coaching professional rugby, Ashley Jones explains why mastering basic movement patterns, building strength and power, managing recovery, and holding athletes to high standards will always matter more than chasing the latest trend.

Resistance bands are one of the most versatile and underused tools in strength training. Here's every way to use them, from accommodating resistance on the main lifts to rehab, speed work, and keeping a beat-up body in the game.

Progress stalls when the stimulus gets stale. Ashley Jones explains how to avoid accommodation through planned variation, three-week training blocks, exercise rotation, and smarter loading strategies that help athletes stay on the gain train.